When I first heard about this game I wasn't too excited because
I didn't know very much about it. The more I knew, the more
interested I became. .hack//Infection Part 1 is the
first volume in a four volume collection of games that tell
one overall story. The story takes place in the near future,
2007 to be exact, and the cast are all members of an online
MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Game). The game itself
is off-line, so nothing other than a PS2 is required to play.

The protagonist is a 14 year old 8th grader by the name of
Kite (you'll have the option of changing his name from the
beginning). Without spoiling much of the story, what happens
is that Kite's real life schoolmate, Yasuhiko, invites Kite
to play the very popular MMORPG "The World." Yasuhiko, whose
online name is Orca, teaches Kite the basic tutorials at the
beginning of the game to get you acquainted. The two of you
set out in a newbie dungeon for your first dungeon crawling
adventure when you notice a ghostlike girl being chased by
a grimreaper-like figure when you both go to investigate.
Orca tries his luck at defeating the grimreaper-like figure
with no luck and is attacked with a strange type of spell
that kills his character. Just before the grimreaper-like
figure kills your character you are automatically transported
back to what's known as the Root Town. Throughout the rest
of the game you and your allies try to uncover the mysteries
of "The World." The story can get a little slow at times but
don't really expect too much just yet until the next volume
hits the shelves.

The battle system is a very similar to Phantasy Star Online
and Kingdom Hearts, meaning it's real-time. It also
reminds me of Grandia 2 because
of the dungeon crawling. At the beginning of the game you
get a unique ability called "Data Drain". What Data
Drain does is when you fight an enemy and get his HP down
low enough you'll see "Protect Break" pop up and once you
use Data Drain it will cause the enemy's level to decrease
making him easier to kill. It also allows you to extract things
that are called "Virus Cores" that are used for Gate Hacking.
Be careful not to use Data Drain too much otherwise the chances
of your stats lowering increases and it could possibly result
in a Game Over. Gate Hacking allows the player to go to a
restricted area of the server that the Admins do not allow
mainly because of instabilities. You will be forced to do
this a few times throughout the game to proceed with the story.
Just like in any other MMORPG, there is money to be gained
through selling items, weapons, and spell scrolls. One sidequest
includes raising "Grunties", which are like donkeys. You can
gather talking fruits and feed the grunty until it becomes
an adult and use them in the game's field for faster travel
or to avoid battles. Hack//Infection really feels like
an online game because it allows you to read threads on the
message board, which also gives you clues, keywords, and tips
and the characters run around with chat bubbles around their
heads. The game does not allow you to add any member of "The
World" to your member address, only key characters, but it
does allow you to trade with every character. You can trade
to obtain better weapons, armor, items, etc. For the key characters
you can do the same as well as the give gifts. The more items,
weapons, armor that you give to them, the higher their affection
level grows for you. Affection doesn't affect the storyline
but it's more of a side quest for when you finish the game.
When you log off of "The World" you are brought back to your
virtual computer desktop that allows you to use the following
options:

The World - Allows you to log on to the game. Mailer - You can check your email here and reply. Good
for getting a little background info on characters. News - Check here to see what's new with the game's
real world issues. Accessory - You can change your desktop image here.
Audio - Allows you to view cutscenes and listen to
BGMs. Data - This allows you to save your game. Requires
685kb and gives you 12 save spaces in the game. The saved
games will be transferable to Volume 2, but not vice-versa.
Same goes for Volume 2 to 3, and 3 to 4.

You can acquire new movies, audio files, and images by acquiring
"Book of Ryu" which comes in 8 volumes. They each record a
different aspect of the game (i.e. one records characters'
affection level, another records battles fought, and so forth).
The game's downside is that the main story is only about 20
hours for the average gamer, but you can make it as long as
you like if you decide to finish all of the sidequests. That
is understandable however, considering its only 1/4 of an
overall story.

The music is not too shabby. I found myself humming the tune
of Mac Anu (Root Town) a few times. The voice acting is done
well but could have been better. In some instances the voices
seemed too dull and lifeless and in others it seemed to be
perfect for the mood. I like Kite's voice - I think the English
VA (Voice Actor) did a good job with him. The game allows
you to switch between the English and Japanese voice track
which was a great idea considering a lot of people prefer
the Japanese voice actors. The sound effects are done nicely
and are very crisp and clear. In fact, maybe a little too
crisp, because the footsteps needed to be softened a little
like when you're running on concrete. It just sounds a little
too loud, but at least you can tamper with the sound effects
option. :)

The character models are very well done. The facial expressions
impressed me the first time I played. The characters have an
anime look that I think the developers were trying to pull
off and they did a good job. The battlefields are vast but
some of the textures (like the ground) look too bland and
flat even though there a slight hills. The atmosphere of the
towns and battle fields are nice. We see fog; we see the game's
coding when you go through hacked gates, etc. We all know
that in most MMORPGs, the character's clothes change when new
armor is equipped, but Bandai didn't include that for some
reason. It also has a nice draw-distance effect. The graphics
definitely leave room for improvement but they are still good
overall.

This game comes with an OVA (Original Video Animation) DVD
called Hack//Liminality Part 1:in the case of Mai Minase
that tells the story of what's going on in the real world
at around the same time the game is going on. The OVA takes
place when you get around 75% done with the story. The story
revolves around a middle school girl named Mai Minase. She
and her friend Tomanari play "The World" and they both fall
into a coma but only Mai wakes up. She and Mr. Tokuoka then
investigate what happened and why people are falling into
comas over this game. The DVD, like the game, allows you to
switch between the English and Japanese voice tracks which
is really cool. The DVD is 45 minutes long and it also comes
in 4 volumes like the game. If you want to more about Hack
you can check out the Hack//SIGN anime show on Cartoon
Network or buy the DVD. Also you can check for upcoming Hack
(non-game) installations.

ILS is not affiliated with, endorsed by or related
to any of the products, companies, artists or parties legally responsible
for the items referred to on this website. No copyright infringement is
intended.